Before You Were Born

Before You Were Born - Page Text Content

S: Kaitlyn's Journey in Mommy's Belly

BC: This book was made with love, especially for Kaitlyn Rose Evelyn Hart.

FC: Before You Were Born

1: This book was made by Mommy just for you, Kaitlyn. You will always be my first born child, my first baby girl, and my first unconditional love. I will always cherish the 38 weeks you spent in my belly. For that period of time, you were mine, and only mine, and I enjoyed that time so much. No one else could ever quite understand what it was like to feel you moving around in my belly all day long. It was so incredible and I will never forget it. I'll love you forever, I'll love you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be. Love you lots, Mommy

2: Mommy had a gut feeling in her stomach, and on November 6th 2010, I woke up in the morning, and did two pregnancy tests. They both turned up positive, right away. Once Daddy came home from work, I told him the news! We decided to keep it to ourselves for a few days, and I went to the doctor on November 8th to confirm. A few days later we told Grandma & Grandpa Whelpton and Hart. Everyone was very excited! The due date was July 10th 2011! We waited until I was 4 months pregnant to tell everyone else about you, but making the announcement to our friends was fun and exciting as well! We all started the countdown on our calendars, started guessing whether you were a girl or boy, and started to think of names for you! | The Big News

4: Watching you grow for 9 months was so amazing... We thought it would be fun to take a photo each month to show your growth inside my belly. It was so much fun to see how much my belly grew from month to month. My belly got really, really big! My arms and legs stayed skinny, while my belly just kept growing! You were an extremely active baby from the beginning, kicking and punching inside my belly all day long! We shouldn't have been surprised that I didn't make it to the 10th month, and that you decided you wanted to come early! (By 12 days!) Most first-born babies are born after their due date, so you must have been as excited to meet us as we were to meet you! | Baby Bump

6: Oh the joy of being pregnant and the funny things you crave! Right away I started craving chocolate! I don't usually like chocolaty goodies, but I just couldn't stop eating ice cream and brownies! Everyone likes french fries, but I was in love with them! I had really bad morning sickness and was sick every single day for the whole pregnancy! I ate whatever I could keep down, even if it was nothing but junk food! It sure was a delicious nine months! | Food Cravings | YUM YUM YUM

8: I had a difficult pregnancy, and started getting morning sickness about 2 weeks after finding out we were expecting you. We were waiting until I was 4 months pregnant before telling all of our friends and other family members about you. On Christmas morning, only a few days before reaching 4 months, I was extra sick. Daddy and Grandma Sue took me to the hospital to get checked up, and the doctor did an ultrasound to make sure you were okay. You were still so small, only 11 weeks in the making, you couldn't even move yet. You looked like a tiny little jelly bean! That was the first time we got to see you! The second ultrasound was at 14 weeks and was the first time I saw you move! You were still just a little jelly bean, but this time you were swimming back and forth, and all over the place! You were still so small that I couldn't even feel you moving! The third ultrasound was at 20 weeks, and was on Grandma's birthday. It was this one that we got to find out whether we were having a girl or a boy! | Seeing You Before Birth

10: We were so excited to find out that we were having our very own sweet little princess! | Boy or Girl?

11: Daddy has a very strong history of boys in his family, so because of this, we were expecting to have a boy too! We were very confident that we were going to have a little prince. Grandma Sue had originally not wanted to find out your gender, but even she couldn't handle the suspense! She came with Daddy and I to the ultrasound to see. I almost didn't believe my ears when the ultrasound technician told us you were, in fact, a girl! Mommy had always wanted a little angel, so we were all so thrilled! Grandma bought a tiny pink outfit and a tiny blue outfit to mark the occasion, and so your first gift was a little pink onesie that said "Princess".

12: 3D Ultrasound | We had to know 100% that you really were going to be a girl. We also couldn't stand the thought of not seeing you again for another 5 months until you were born! So, we booked a 3D ultrasound. It is different from a normal ultrasound because it uses the fluid that was protecting you in my belly to bounce sound waves around and create a better picture of you. It was amazing to be able to see you in such detail before you were even born! We could tell you had lots of hair, a cute little nose, and Mommy's lips! Daddy and I watched you wiggle around for 45 minutes!

14: We started to think about baby names right away! We worked mostly on boy names, but we still did try to make a list of girl names too! It was very difficult trying to agree on the perfect name for you! We decided to quit trying, and wait until we knew for sure what we were having first. After finding out we were having a girl, we liked a few different names, like: Amy, Kayla, and Ashley. But none of those were quite right. We finally decided that "Kaitlyn" would be a beautiful name. Your middle name, "Rose" is a very common name on Mommy's side, and was GaGa's middle name too. Your other middle name, "Evelyn" is your Nana's name. We chose those two names because we wanted to name you after people who were important in your Mommy's and your Daddy's lives. | Baby Names

15: Kaitlyn | rose | Evelyn | Kaitlyn | rose | Evelyn

16: You were a squirmy worm right from the start! It started out feeling like butterflies in my belly. Then it turned into what felt like a muscle spasm in my stomach, just below my belly button. Next, I could feel tiny little movements all throughout my belly, and then, before I knew it, you were nearly kicking me out of my chair! You would kick and punch so hard that other people could see you moving from across the room! You wiggled around all day long, and even more so at night, keeping Mommy awake, while you rolled around and played inside my belly. We could poke you through my belly, and you would kick our hand right back! It was so amazing! | Wiggling Around Inside

17: Six Months | Seven Months | Eight Months | Nine Months

18: Your bedroom was one of the biggest challenges of all! The basement wasn't even finished, and was a big mess. Certainly not safe for a baby! Grandpa Phill went to work right away, tearing down walls, and making floor plans for your new room, as well as two more bedrooms and a bathroom! Everyone came together to help do the work, including Grandma Beth, Uncles Connor and Mathew, and even Uncle Cole and Grandpa Brian came over to help put in the lights. Grandpa Phill and Grandma Beth spent all summer building the bedrooms. They weren't finished before you were born, so you got to help pick out colours, and choose how the furniture was arranged in your own room! It was so much fun to decorate and organize! Everyone did an amazing job! | The Nursery

20: Two Baby Showers! | We were very lucky and got to have two baby showers! One was planned by Grandma Sue and Auntie Em, and was for all of the Whelpton and Hart family members! It was held at the Whelpton Grandparents' house, and we played lots of fun games, received tons of presents, and a had the most beautiful cake! It was here that you got many of your first books, especially the Robert Munsch ones! | The second shower was planned by Mommy's friend Vanessa, and was for all of our closest friends to come celebrate with us! It was held at her enormous house, and we had a great time! There was a ton of interesting food and we made a lot of memories! With all of the gifts received at the showers, we had almost everything we needed for you when you got here!

22: It was so hard having to wait 38 weeks to finally meet you! I had dreamed of becoming a mother my whole life, so I was ecstatic once I found out I was expecting you! Once we learned you would be a girl, we were over the moon and the anticipation was killing us! | We Can't Wait to Finally

23: We had no idea what to expect when you came along, everyone told us how different it would be. We knew that no matter what life was like with a baby, we would enjoy every minute spent with you! I was terrified to give birth, but I knew that it would result in such an amazing gift! You have turned out to be everything we could have ever dreamed of! | Kiss You and Hold You

24: On June 26th, Mommy thought it would be a good idea to get the hospital bag packed and ready. On June 27th she had her checkup with the doctor, and he said that she was 2cm dilated, and that you could be here within a week! At about 5pm that night I looked in the mirror and found two big stretch marks on my belly and shouted "THATS IT! TIME'S UP KAITLYN!" I had a hard time falling asleep that night, so I stayed up and had a bath. At 3am I finally laid down to catch some sleep. I laid there for no more than 4 minutes before I felt my water break! I woke up Daddy, we got everything ready to go, we called everyone, and they told us to wait. They said labour usually takes HOURS, especially with first time moms. So we slowed down, and I hopped into the shower. But by the time I was done showering, I could tell you weren't waiting much longer! We rushed to the hospital, and got there at 4:10am, and after spending a great deal of time convincing the nurses that you really were coming NOW, we got the show on the road. Mommy had planned to get medication to help with the delivery, but you weren't waiting for anyone! You were born less than 2 hours after my water broke, with no complications! | Speedy Delivery

26: You, Kaitlyn Rose Evelyn Hart, were born on June 28th at 4:57am, weighing 6lbs 5oz, and were 46cm long. You arrived 12 days before your due date, and were an incredibly happy and healthy baby! Right away you began to eat and sleep like a champ. All of your family members and our friends came to visit you in the hospital and days afterwards! | Welcome to the World!

28: Happy Birthday Kaitlyn! | You are one year old now, and the first year has been wonderful! People say that the first year can be the hardest, but it truly was an amazing experience! You have been every thing we could have asked for, and more! You truly are the greatest gift in the world. We have been faced with life's biggest challenge: to raise a successful child. I know that we will try our hardest! We both love you more than you will ever be able to imagine... until you have your own children, of course. We love you Princess